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Hazel knew the Greek camp had magic borders, but someone important must've been in the Christmas spirit because a little bit of snow was being allowed to collect on the frozen ground. Hazel never liked snow. In her first life, she'd been a New Orleans girl, through and through. Save the occasional flurry, she never even saw the stuff, so when those rare snowflakes came, it just meant that it was cold outside, which Hazel never appreciated. Her experiences in Alaska didn't exactly boost her opinion of it, either. However, this snow was... Different. It was fluffy and thick, catching as much light as possible as it floated down. It also felt way to warm for the snow. Hazel could've sworn it was only 45 degrees out. Between that and the roaring fire in the pavilion, Hazel only needed to wear an old fashioned, orange, white-collared dress, as opposed to the kids out in the snow who had to wear light parkas. Compared to how many campers there were in the summer, the camp looked empty to Hazel, although Percy assured her that attendance was way higher than the winter norm. From the dining pavilion, she could see two Mercury- er, Hermes kids picking the lock to what she remembered as the camp store. Annabeth had warned her not to tell those twins where she kept her wallet. Shooting archery was a lonely looking Cer-, Demeter girl. As Hazel watched, two Apollo (that name was the same, thank goodness) kids came over to help her. She lightly punched one of them, but Hazel could tell she was grateful for their tips and company. Ah, nothing like the firing of deadly weapons to bring together the Christmas cheer.
The pavilion itself was mildly crowded, hosting about ten demigods. At the Poseidon table, Percy sat, talking to Annabeth. He was stretched out, almost as if to take up as much room as he could. It was nice, Hazel thought, to see him totally and completely relaxed. He'd definitely earned it. They all had. Percy's dark-haired head bobbed up and down as he laughed, probably at his own joke, seeing as Annabeth was laughing, too. She was sitting on top of the table, Percy's head resting on her left knee. Hazel noticed that whenever Percy made Annabeth laugh, she scrunched her nose and turned her head away. Hazel thought one day she might just die of those two being too downright cute. Talking behind her were Frank, Leo, and an Ares girl whose name was Clarisse. Well, Frank and Clarisse were talking. Leo was sitting next to Frank, absentmindedly playing with a gadget and looking bored. What Leo was messing with, she had no idea, but Hazel had a pretty good idea of what it did. She noticed that every time Leo tapped it, the volume and station of a beat-up old radio sitting at the edge of the large clearspace in the pavilion would change. A couple tables away, Jason sat with Piper, Thalia, and Malcom, one of Annabeth's siblings. Hazel had never actually talked to him directly, but he seemed like a pretty upstanding guy, even if he was easily distracted by logic puzzles or incorrect trivia games. The four were having some kind of debate, probably on Girls vs Boys because it seemed like Thalia and Piper were against the other two, and Piper usually took Jason's side on everything. It was clearly all in good fun, seeing as Malcom was wheezing uncontrollably at something Jason had said, Thalia, in turn, cracked up at Malcom's noisy, breathless laugh. She did keep throwing anxious glances at Jason's hand, which was desperately clutching Piper's, but the more she talked to Piper, the more she seemed to relax. Hazel didn't blame her. If her brother ever got a girlfriend, she would need some serious self control to not give them the third degree. Nico was here too, but he wasn't sitting next to Hazel. Most people would be surprised at that, knowing how affectionate he was to his sister, but Hazel knew him better. Christmas was never a happy holiday for him because it is so soon after his real sister's death.
Stop that, Hazel chided herself as she felt her stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot, You're his real sister, too.
It took Hazel a minute to actually see where Nico was. He was cloaked in shadows, sitting at the edge of the pavilion. Being here, at Camp Half-Blood so soon after the anniversary of his sister's death was hard for him, Hazel knew. Unthinkingly, she had asked Nico to come, and of course he had. He was so caring and kind to her, it only doubled her guilt at her bitter thoughts toward Bianca for being Nico's birth sister. She wished everyone else could see what she saw in Nico. He was polite, he was kind, he was cautious, he was brave, and he had a natural respect for others. All everyone else saw was his vengeance, his grudges, his untrusting nature... Only because they considered him 'creepy.' She hated it. He looked so tired. His head was buried into the sleeves of his WWII aviator jacket, his arms crossed on top of his knees, his legs tucked in as tight as he could as if he needed the body heat. Hazel couldn't see his eyes, but she was sure there'd be bags under them. Not sleeping, probably not eating either... That's what Nico did when grieving. She wished there was something stupid and annoying and sister-y that she could do to cheer him up. No one should be that sad on Christmas.
WHRAMNMM!! She was shaken out of her thoughts by a familiar blast of swing. Leo's device had found an oldies station and turned up the volume. "Oldies," Hazel scoffed mentally. This music was around when I was a kid. Fortunately or unfortunately, Hazel recognized the song. Absentmindedly, she tapped her foot to the beat. From the way Nico raised his head slightly, Hazel knew he knew the song, too. That's when she had an idea. A brilliant, horrible idea.
She sprang from her seat as if she'd been stung. Hazel could feel over half the heads in the dining pavilion swivel towards her. She was glad that it was mostly her friends there, because Nico was going to be embarrassed. Hazel had thought of the perfect annoying sister thing that would eventually cheer him up. Running over to Nico, she grabbed his hands and hauled him up.
"Wha--"
"Come on!"
Hazel dragged him into the clear area of the pavilion. Keeping a firm grip on Nico's hands, she looked him dead it the eye and started to dance.
Nico looked absolutely terrified. "What are you doing?"
"Having fun!" she shouted to him over the music. "It's more than you're doing!"
Nico tried to pull away, but Hazel clung tightly to his hands. She silently prayed that her friends would back her up and that they'd all have some fun, as opposed to this jury ending in Nico's embarrassment. It was risky, but ever since the Feast of Spes, risks didn't scare her anymore.
Fortunately, as Hazel swung Nico around, she saw Percy standing up and grinning. He reached down towards his girlfriend and Annabeth accepted his hand, blushing a little. They strutted to the clear area where Hazel and Nico were and tried to imitate what they were doing. "Come on, Nico, show me what to do! I'm dying over here!" Percy called, tripping over his feet and trying to catch up as Annabeth took the lead.
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know what to do," Hazel said, locking eyes with her brother. He gave her a small but grateful smile. Hazel knew she had gotten it right. Nico was starting to enjoy himself. "You're not gonna let your little sister outshine you, are you?"
With a grin, he tightened his grip on Hazel and swung her around taking the lead. He is good, Hazel thought admirably as they danced around the pavilion. Better than anyone else she had danced with. In New Orleans, her favorite thing to do besides the occasional ride was dance, but Sammy was never much good at it. Out of her peripheral, the caught a glimpse of Percy and Annabeth angling themselves in a rudimentary imitation of Nico and Hazel. Piper bounded up, a grinning Jason trailing behind her. They caught the beat and started dancing. Soon, the three couples revolved around each other with a certain grace. The song ended, but thankfully Leo didn't switch the station. A beat started up, louder and wilder than before. Hazel almost squealed with excitement as she grabbed Nico and started to dance again. She eyed Leo and Frank, who were sitting awkwardly at the edge, looking like they wanted to join but the only girls left were Clarisse and Thalia, both of whom were too intimidating for the boys to ask.
"Come on you two!" she yelled. "Dance! Don't just sit there looking stupid!" Her message was directed to both of them, but her eyes locked on Leo's, silently taunting him, challenging him. She knew he would go for it. With a wicked grin, he sprung to his feet.
"Alright, Zhang!" he beckoned. "Been training for the ballet?"
"What?"
"Well, that's okay, I don't think this is ballet, anyway," Leo said gleefully, hauling Frank up. Leo is actually reasonably strong, considering he's such a scrawny guy, and Frank was confused and surprised. Leo dragged Frank into the middle of the improvised dance floor, limbs and ankles flailing. Leo looked like he was having some sort of fit. Frank looked like he wanted to die. Fortunately for them, however, a swift rift in the music called for a partner change.
"Switch!" Hazel hollered. She threw Nico off to her left, pushing off from him and spinning to her right until she landed in someone else's arms- Jason. She was thankful they had gotten closer after the quest. Nico's face was bright red as he danced with Percy as Percy spun the son of Hades around shamelessly, laughing. Annabeth was with Frank, and Frank looked relieved. Hazel knew the two had formed some sort of friendship around Rome. Leo and Piper were swinging around, looking adorable. Piper had a natural grace about her and Leo looked like he was being bitten by spiders because he was jumping around so much. They wore identical I'm-so-gonna-out-do-you grins.
Hazel couldn't tell how long they danced. When she said everyone danced with everyone, she meant it- she had been partners at least once with every demigod in that pavilion. Even Malcom and Thalia joined in eventually, but not Clarisse. That was just as well, because if Clarisse had joined, then there would be an uneven number. The best pair of the night was probably her and Piper. Hazel felt momentarily self conscious because she was in a faded orange old-fashioned dress, and Piper seemed to make blue jeans and a turquoise t-shirt the most elegant fashion-forward thing in the world, but she shouldn't have worried. Piper was a very fast learner, and her height made her an easier partner than Nico, who was off somewhere fumbling around with Leo, trying not to die, either from a hit from one of Leo's out of control limbs or out of despair for his partner's poor dancing skills.
They only stopped when the general music of the station mellowed out, but they were all panting and out of breath as they leaned on each other for a final slow dance.. Hazel was dancing with Frank as they wound down. This felt so… right. Hazel had been worried about how committed her and Frank’s relationship had become during the war with Gaea, but she supposed that was how things went during the end of the world. Things tended to be dramatic. She and Frank were so easy, now, taking it slow by some sort of unspoken agreement. She was only fourteen, after all. She wanted to take her second life at a slow pace, enjoying every stage. She smiled and pressed her face deeper against his chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?” Frank murmured.
For being here, Hazel thought. For wanting to be my friend. For ignoring the rumors Octavian spread about me. For not caring when they were true. For not screaming and hiding when you found out I was once dead. For accepting Nico. For taking charge during the war. For never pushing me towards anything I didn’t want to do. For your patience. For your kindness. For you.
“For everything,” she whispered.
Soon after the song ended, the group of demigods straggled off to their respective cabins. Hazel skipped up to the Hades cabin, buzzing from when Frank kissed her on the cheek. The Hades cabin looked, well, terrifying on the outside, but inside it was quite plain. It was dark and enclosed, definitely not the place to be if you were claustrophobic, but that sort of thing always made Hazel feel safe. It was hard to explain, but Hazel knew where everything was and she knew everything was solid and there was always something to hold on to just a fingertip away, and that was comforting. Grinning, she tucked herself in to a bunk on the girl’s side. A few minutes later, Nico stumbled in. He changed into batman jammies (Hazel promised never to tell) and collapsed on his bunk. He was silent for a couple minutes, but then his reedy voice whispered, “Hazel?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“For what?” she whispered.
He hesitated for a moment. “For everything.”